This recipe comes from Corinne Planche, who took the beautiful photographs in this book. Corinne grew up in Geneva, Switzerland, and these chocolate hearts were Christmas favorites. Read through the recipe and you'll see how unusual this cookie is: No flour. No butter. No eggs. No baking! The dough is assembled from ground almonds, chocolate, sugar, and a few spoonfuls of kirsch (pronounced keersh), a cherry brandy, and then it's rolled out, stamped into hearts, and left to dry overnight. Corinne tells me that all Swiss cooks keep kirsch (also called Kirschwasser, which in German means “cherry water”) in the house because it's a necessary ingredient for fondue.
Chocolate Hearts
Introduction
Photo taken by: Corinne_Planche
- Preparation time
- 30 mins
- Maceration time
- 8 hrs 0 mins
- Portions
- 22
- Partner
Ingredients
- 5 ounces good-quality bittersweet chocolate, chopped
- 2 cups (about 8 ounces) finely ground blanched almonds or almond meal (see Note near bottom of page)
- 3/4 cup sugar, plus more for rolling out the dough
- 3 tablespoons kirsch
Steps
-
Cookie cutter needed: heart measuring about 2-1/2 inches across the top.
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Place the chocolate in a food processor and process until finely ground. Add the ground almonds and 3/4 cup of sugar and pulse a few times to combine. Add the kirsch and 2 tablespoons of water and pulse until the dough starts to hold together. If it's too crumbly, add up to 1 tablespoon more water. When you squeeze the dough it should stick together.
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Sprinkle a clean work surface with sugar. Working with half the dough at a time, place it on the sugar and roll it out to about a 1/3-inch thickness. (Sprinkle the dough with a little sugar if the rolling pin sticks to it.) Using the cookie cutter, stamp out hearts. Transfer them, using a thin metal spatula, to a rack. Reroll the scraps with the remaining dough. Let the cookies dry on the rack overnight to firm up.
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Store, layered between sheets of wax paper, in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks; or freeze for up to 3 months.
Note: Almond meal or flour, which is finely ground blanched almonds, is sold in some specialty markets. It's also available online from bobsredmill.com and kingarthurflour.com
Excerpted from Christmas Cookies: 50 Recipes to Treasure for the Holiday Season. Published by HarperCollins Publishers Ltd. (c) 2008 by Lisa B. Zwirn. All rights reserved. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.
